


Drunken Confessions

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [67]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Age Regression/De-Aging, Alcohol, Angst and Feels, Betrayal, Disney Movies, Drunkenness, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Tony DiNozzo, Men Crying, Non-Sexual Age Play, Papa Bear Jethro Gibbs, Winnie-the-Pooh References, lying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 11:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12131517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: This is not the first time Tony shows up on Gibbs' doorstep shivering and soaked from the rain, but it's the first time since Gibbs hit his head and took his hiatus in Mexico, so really, it operates on a similar principle.





	Drunken Confessions

The next time Gibbs saw Tony, he had been just about to go down to his basement when there was a knock on his door. Gibbs paused in his path towards his boat and some bourbon, looking over at the door. Nobody who knew him knocked on his door unless there was serious trouble, and his gut was churning. He walked over to his door, looking in the peephole to find Tony shivering on his front porch, soaking wet from the storm that had been hovering over DC all day.

How long had Tony been out there?

Gibbs opened the door and Tony stood on the porch, sniffling and looking at Gibbs like he could fix the world's problems. And while Gibbs wasn't sure about fixing everything, he knew he was going to fix as much as he could if it would bring Tony's smile back. "Hey, kiddo, feeling okay?" Gibbs asked, taking a step away from the door frame.

Tony shuffled in and didn't respond, taking off his shoes and his jacket. Gibbs frowned. Tony was wearing a plain T-shirt underneath, and he was wearing jeans and sneakers instead of the suit he had worn at work. This looked like a DiNozzo outfit for bar-hopping, not a DiNozzo outfit from a long day at work that had been about to be torn apart by little Tony. Gibbs took a step forward and put a hand on Tony's shoulder gently. "Hey, kiddo? Are you okay?"

Still, Tony didn't say a word. He just shuddered, dropping his jacket, before wrapping himself around Gibbs and squeezing tightly. Gibbs hugged back, shushing the sobs that Tony was starting to make. He closed the door and somehow maneuvered Tony's legs so that he was more or less carrying the boy, still clinging to him desperately, to the couch. He sat down and rubbed Tony's back in circles, shushing him over and over. "It's okay, Tony, it's okay. Can you tell me what's wrong?"

Tony buried his head in the crook of Gibbs' neck, and Gibbs briefly wondered if there was something important he still hadn't gotten back after that hit to the head when Tony mumbled, "Tim got drunk."

Gibbs closed his eyes and shook his head, holding Tony tighter. He had remembered a few times that McGee had gotten drunk around him before. Usually he just started laughing and loosened up enough to give as good as he got if he was a little buzzed. But full-on drunk, McGee had a bad habit of being bitter, angry, and depressed, eager to blame someone, anyone for the bad things that had happened to him throughout his life. And while he didn't usually blame himself, he would blame anyone who had ticked him off recently, and DiNozzo had a bad habit of pushing McGee over the line when both of them had been drinking.

And now Tony had shown up on his porch, shivering, soaking wet, and crying, and Gibbs had a pretty good idea of what might have happened at whatever bar the two had gone to together. "What did he say to you?" Gibbs asked.

Tony shook his head, crying harder.

Gibbs sighed. The only reason Tony would stay silent about whatever McGee had said would be to keep him out of trouble. Which only furthered Gibbs' concern. "Tony, McGee's not in trouble unless he said something to hurt you on purpose. If it was an accident, I'll just make sure he apologizes. But I need to know so that I can make you feel better."

Tony leaned back, rubbing at his eyes and shuddering. "S-said bad things about Papa."

Ah. Well, that explained the reluctance to say anything. "I've got pretty thick skin, kiddo. What did he say about me? I'll make sure to make it up to him somehow tomorrow so he won't be angry anymore."

"He...h-he said..." Tony licked his lips, swallowed. He couldn't look in Gibbs' eyes as he said, "He said Papa was just as bad as his daddy, and that he wasn' gonna let Papa do anything to hurt him like his daddy did."

Wait...What?! Surely Gibbs didn't hear that right. He wasn't...He hadn't...What?!

Tony was looking at him more and more nervously. Gibbs realized he hadn't said anything, probably hadn't shown any change in facial expression since Tony said this. He focused on Tony and rubbed circles on the boy's back. "Did he say why?"

The pained expression on Tony's face spoke for itself. Gibbs leveled him with a neutral-but-questioning look. " _Tony_. Please?"

Tony squirmed under Gibbs' questioning, but soon the answer was tumbling from his mouth like he couldn't say it fast enough. "He says it's 'cause you left without a word and then you came back expecting everything to be the same as when you left but it's not 'cause we all changed more than you liked and he could tell you were irritated about it and he just kept on expecting you to do something about it like his dad did and--"

"Hey, kiddo, take a breath," Gibbs interrupted. "You're gonna start coughing hard enough to get sick if you don't remember to breathe."

Tony took in a breath, eyes welling up with tears. "Papa's not Tim's daddy, right?"

Gibbs sighed. He wanted to reassure Tony, but what McGee had said felt like a slap to the face. He didn't know how to reassure Tony when he didn't know how to reassure himself. "McGee was drunk, Tony. When people are drunk, they sometimes say things they don't mean. And you know that when McGee gets drunk he'll complain about whoever's most recently ticked him off. I happened to be on his bad side tonight, he didn't mean what he said."

"That's what I told him," Tony said miserably. "But then he just laughed and said he'd felt this way since you came back, with or without the alcohol."

Gibbs flinched at that. McGee must have been a better liar than he originally thought. He hadn't suspected a thing was wrong after he had come over before and they had talked. But apparently, McGee wasn't having any of Gibbs' return, even if Timmy was clinging to the hope that Gibbs was staying for good.

Of course, he couldn't focus on that right now. Right now, Tony was upset, and he needed to make sure that he was okay. Of course, he needed to make sure that McGee wasn't going to do any harm either, so he asked, "Kiddo, do you know if McGee's safe?"

Tony nodded. "Ziva's drivin' him home."

Well, that's good. Both his kids would be alive tomorrow morning, at least. Now to make sure Tony was okay. "Kiddo, is there anything Papa can do to help you feel better?"

Tony looked up at Papa, almost pleading. "I dunno," he said, fresh tears coming to his eyes. "Papa always knows. That's why I came here."

Well, this would be more of a challenge, but it wasn't completely unworkable. "Well, then. Would you like something to drink first, like juice or water?"

Tony shrugged. "Apple juice?" he asked.

"Sure, let's see if we have apple juice," Gibbs said, taking Tony's hand and helping him stand up, so that they could go to the kitchen together.

Gibbs found some apple juice in the refrigerator, thankfully, so he fixed Tony a sippy cup of it and passed it to him, letting the boy drink it at his own pace. Looking Tony over, it was clear they would not be doing very much tonight. He was exhausted, and almost buzzed, but not quite. He wouldn't want to play any games, and he doubted that Tony would want to participate in anything that required energy. It looked like a night that was perfect for a movie, a bath, a bedtime story, and plenty of rest. "Would you like to watch a movie, kiddo?" Gibbs asked.

Tony's lackluster response of a simple shrug was disconcerting. Tony loved all sorts of movies, even ones that were a little inappropriate for his regressed age. The fact that he didn't immediately want to watch their entire collection was scaring Gibbs, but Tony did go of his own volition to the couch. Gibbs decided he wouldn't ask Tony what he wanted to watch, as he probably wouldn't get a response he could, in good conscience, let Tony watch. Normally, if both of his boys were here and despondent, he might put on _Sky High_ , because Timmy loved the super powers and Tony loved Timmy's excitement. But tonight that might make Tony cry harder, so Gibbs nixed that idea in favor of _Pooh's Heffalump Movie_. He wasn't a huge fan, but it always entertained Tony well enough in a pinch, and there wasn't much bigger of a pinch than what had happened tonight.

When the DVD started Tony offered a weak smile as Gibbs walked over, and Gibbs smiled back, settling in on the couch and putting his arm around Tony like he had done all those years ago when they had first started this. Tony leaned into him instinctively and Gibbs smiled. Some things withstood change.

As soon as Tony was sucked into the movie, which probably took all of five minutes, Gibbs looked Tony over more closely. He had an old black T-shirt on, one Gibbs knew Tony knew made him look good, but not one of his shirts that he would use when he was interested in getting a girl. It was confidence-boosting, but casual, so drinks with friends. His jeans were muddy and wet, most likely from standing out in the rain and a car driving past by a puddle. If Tony was standing out in the rain for a while, long enough to be shivering when he got here, he probably had hailed a cab, because he and McGee and Ziva would have carpooled to the bar.

Tony was still shaking a little bit, but Gibbs knew it wasn't from the cold anymore. It was from raw emotions coursing through his veins. And that was something he couldn't fix. No matter how hard he tried, Tony just had to let those emotions run their course.

Before long, the boy was dozing in his arms and Gibbs let out a low breath. The storm wasn't quite over, but the worst of it had passed. And if Tony was asleep, that meant he felt safe. He felt protected. Despite everything that had happened tonight, if he was sleeping that meant he believed everything would be all right. Now, if only Gibbs could believe that too...

No. That was a thought process he couldn't go down just yet. Not if Tony still needed him. He nudged Tony awake, and Tony whined. "Papa, sleepy..."

"I know, kiddo, that's why we have to get you to bed," Gibbs coaxed. "You'll feel much better in PJ's in your crib than you would in your day clothes on the couch."

Tony made a _hmph_  noise but stood up nonetheless, swaying. Gibbs lead him up the stairs with one hand on his arm, and got him into the nursery before Tony started dozing on his feet. Chuckling, Gibbs nudged Tony awake again, just long enough to get him to lie down on the floor and get a diaper on him. He pulled on pajamas over that, and Tony had his eyes closed and thumb in his mouth by the time Gibbs carried him to his crib and pulled the bars up. He replaced Tony's thumb with a pacifier and was about to go to his room to sleep himself, when he heard the phone ring downstairs.

He got to it as quickly as he could without running in an effort to keep Tony asleep. "Yeah, Gibbs," he said.

_"Gibbs,"_ Ziva was on the other end of the line. _"I believe I may need your help."_

Feeling his stomach sink, worst-case scenarios flashed before Gibbs' mind. "Yeah? With what?"

_"McGee is acting...strange,"_ Ziva said. _"Stranger than normal under the influence of alcohol. He keeps on growling and yelling at thin air, usually about you, and I do not know how to deal with him like this."_

Gibbs took a breath. Okay, this he could deal with. It hurt, but he could work with McGee being drunk and talking Ziva through how to get him off the ledge. "Okay, first of all, are the two of you at his place?"

_"Yes,"_ Ziva said. _"But I do not know how to help him. He is acting like Timmy but in a much fouler mood."_

"He's drunk, Ziva, that's what happens when he drinks," Gibbs sighed. "Make sure he can't drink any more alcohol tonight, he'll already be hungover tomorrow if he's yelling at nothing. Is he away from any beer he might have in his house?"

_"Yes,"_ Ziva said. _"I took away anything that might make him worse; that is the first thing I did when I got him home. He is currently in the bathroom, it's the only reason I felt I could call you without anyone shouting at me."_

Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tony came over to my place and told me what happened. Look, the best thing you can do is get his shoes and socks off and get him into bed. He hates the feeling of socks on underneath his sheets and won't sleep under them if they're not off, but he won't be able to take them off himself tonight."

There was a prolonged pause on the other end before Ziva said, _"Gibbs, I am sorry. If I had known he had felt this way about your return, I may have talked to him, I would have advised against him drinking, I--"_

"I know, Ziver," Gibbs reassured. "It's okay. None of us knew. He hid it better than any of us thought possible. Just get him to bed."

_"What are you going to do about it?"_ Ziva asked.

Gibbs sighed and replied honestly, "I don't know yet. But I'm going to try my hardest to prove that I'm here for him whenever he's ready."

He could almost hear Ziva smile over the phone, before she said, _"I hear the toilet flushing, I must go, Gibbs."_

"I know," Gibbs said, feeling his heart sink. "Make sure he's okay for me?"

_"I will, Gibbs,"_ Ziva promised. _"I shall see you tomorrow."_

"Tomorrow," Gibbs agreed, hanging up the phone. He ran a hand over his face.

What was he going to do?

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all, I normally don't do this but could I have some nice comments, please? I've had a terrible past two weeks and could really use the pick-me-up. I know I normally get one or two without asking, but I need something to keep me going, and it's been...really, _really_ rough. Thanks for understanding.


End file.
